A bad few days for Al-Nassr and Cristiano Ronaldo became much worse on Monday with a shock 1-0 loss to Al-Wehda in the semi-final of the King’s Cup. The Riyadh giants’ best chance of silverware has gone and their league title hopes are looking slim as the season moves into the final stages.
It was another miserable evening for Ronaldo. He caused controversy in last week’s loss to bitter Riyadh rivals Al-Hilal by grabbing his crotch at the end of the game as gleeful home fans chanted Lionel Messi’s name. This time, there was little mocking at the final whistle; the visiting players and fans were too busy celebrating a famous win and a final appearance against Al-Ittihad and this time, he knew that he had –and missed –his team’s best chances.
Al-Nassr had plenty of the ball and possession but Al-Wehda, who have struggled near the bottom of the Roshn Saudi League all season, worked hard especially after being reduced to ten-men early in the second half.
The game started positively for the hosts but somehow Ronaldo couldn’t open the scoring early in the game. The five-time Ballon D’or winner got on the end of a perfect left-sided cross from Ghislain Konan but shot straight at goalkeeper Munir Mohamedi from the edge of the six-yard box
His frustration, and that of the watching home fans, grew as Al-Wehda took the lead in some style midway through the first half. A corner was not cleared sufficiently by the Yellows and a series of headers led to Oscar Duarte finding Jean-David Beauguel. The Frenchman still had a lot of work to do with the ball at shoulder height but he threw himself into the air to twist and volley home, taking goalkeeper Nawaf Al-Aqidi by surprise.
It was a fine goal and inevitably, it prompted a response from the favourites, driven on by the vocal Ronaldo, constantly gesturing to his team-mates as well as officials. A tough half of football ended with Ali Al Hassan shooting just wide from the right side of the area and it was no surprise when Ronaldo was shaking his head as he left the pitch.
Nine minutes after the restart Al-Wehda were reduced to ten men as Abdullah Al-Hafith received a second yellow for bringing down Ronaldo just outside the area. The Portuguese star stood up to send the resultant free-kick just over the bar.
The pressure from the hosts intensified and it seemed that it was just a matter of time before Al-Nassr scored. Just after the hour, Al-Hassan and Abdulrahman Ghareeb both shot narrowly wide from good positions.
By now, Al-Wehda were sitting deep and getting everyone behind the ball in an attempt to protect their narrow lead. It was very nearly wiped out by Ronaldo with eight minutes remaining. A Ghareeb cross from the left found its way to the star just outside the six yard box and the former Real Madrid megastar twisted to fire a shot that beat Munir but not the woodwork as it bounced off the crossbar. As the 38 year-old sank to his knees in despair and disbelief, it looked as if it was all over.
Not quite. There were as many as four weak penalty claims that were not given after a VAR check but there was always going to be a chance and in the 97th minute, Ronaldo got to a floated free-kick before Munir to head the ball into the path of Luiz Gustavo whose header was cleared off the line by Duarte.
That was that. At the end Ronaldo was not the only one shaking his head and looking to the heavens for answers but the fact is that the ambitious team have lost two and drawn one of their last three games and need to return to winning ways very soon if league title number ten is going to be at all possible.
Al-Wehda won’t mind too much if the attention focuses more on the team that lost, they have a chance to win the King’s Cup for the first time since 1966.
On Mon, 24 Apr 2023 at 21:22, John Duerden <[email protected]> wrote:
Al-Wehda send Al-Nassr and Ronaldo crashing out of the King’s Cup
A bad few days for Al-Nassr and Cristiano Ronaldo became much worse on Monday with a shock 1-0 loss to Al-Wehda in the semi-final of the King’s Cup. The Riyadh giants’ best chance of silverware has gone and their league title hopes are looking slim as the season moves into the final stages.
It was another miserable evening for Ronaldo. He caused controversy in last week’s loss to bitter Riyadh rivals Al-Hilal by grabbing his crotch at the end of the game as gleeful home fans chanted Lionel Messi’s name. This time, there was little mocking at the final whistle; the visiting players and fans were too busy celebrating a famous win and a final appearance against Al-Ittihad.
Al-Nassr had plenty of the ball and possession and while they created chances, there were not enough as Al-Wehda, who have struggled near the bottom of the Roshn Saudi League all season, worked hard especially after being reduced to ten-men early in the second half.
The game started positively for the hosts but somehow Ronaldo couldn’t open the scoring early in the game. The five-time Ballon D’or winner got on the end of a perfect left-sided cross from Ghislain Konan but shot straight at goalkeeper Munir Mohamedi from the edge of the six-yard box
His frustration, and that of the watching home fans, grew as Al-Wehda took the lead in some style midway through the first half. A corner was not cleared sufficiently by the Yellows and a series of headers led to Oscar Duarte finding Jean-David Beauguel. The Frenchman still had a lot of work to do with the ball at shoulder height but he threw himself into the air to twist and volley home, taking goalkeeper Nawaf Al-Aqidi by surprise.
It was a fine goal and inevitably, it prompted a response from the favourites, driven on by the vocal Ronaldo, constantly gesturing to his team-mates as well as officials. A tough half of football ended with Ali Al Hassan shooting just wide from the right side of the area and it was no surprise when Ronaldo was shaking his head as he left the pitch.
Nine minutes after the restart Al-Wehda were reduced to ten men as Abdullah Al-Hafith received a second yellow for bringing down Ronaldo just outside the area. The Portuguese star stood up to send the resultant free-kick just over the bar.
The pressure from the hosts intensified and it seemed that it was just a matter of time before Al-Nassr scored. Just after the hour, Al-Hassan and Abdulrahman Ghareeb both shot narrowly wide from good positions.
By now, Al-Wehda were sitting deep and getting everyone behind the ball in an attempt to protect their narrow lead. It was very nearly wiped out by Ronaldo with eight minutes remaining. A Ghareeb cross from the left found its way to the star just outside the six yard box and the former Real Madrid megastar twisted to fire a shot that beat Munir but not the woodwork as it bounced off the crossbar. As the 38 year-old sank to his knees in despair and disbelief, it looked as if it was all over.
Not quite. There were as many as four weak penalty claims that were not given after a VAR check but there was always going to be a chance and in the 97th minute, Ronaldo got to a floated free-kick before Munir to head the ball into the path of Luiz Gustavo whose header was cleared off the line by Duarte.
That was that. At the end Ronaldo was not the only one shaking his head and looking to the heavens for answers but the fact is that the ambitious team have lost two and drawn one of their last three games and need to return to winning ways very soon if league title number ten is going to be at all possible.
Al-Wehda won’t mind too much if the attention focuses more on the team that lost, they have a chance to win the King’s Cup for the first time since 1966.
